Rangers manager Walter Smith has condemned the club's supporters who have made
a point of jeering striker Kenny Miller.

Smith had maintained a dignified silence concerning the treatment of his £2 million summer signing from Derby County but on the eve of the first leg of the second Champions League qualifying round against Lithuanians FBK Kaunas he launched a stout defence of the Scotland forward.

It would appear that some of the club's unreconstructed followers cannot forgive the 28-year-old for opting to sign for arch-rivals Celtic in 2006 (and to subsequently celebrate scoring against Rangers in an Old Firm match).

Last season's exploits in reaching the final of the Uefa Cup were tainted by the unacceptable behaviour of a significant minority of the club's fans who thronged into Manchester and Smith believes that the catcalls Miller has endured from his own supporters during the club's pre-season fixtures don't benefit Rangers.

"If people don't think he's good enough then that's fine but it's my opinion that matters and I happen to think he is good enough," he said.

"That's how I look upon it. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but if their reason for not liking him is because he used to play for Celtic, then I thought those days were in the past. They are for me.

"If that's not acceptable to everyone else then there's not much I can do about it except win football matches.

"I signed Kenny because of where we are at the moment and because I believe he'll do well for us and that is the only thing that matters to me.

"It would be important for him to start well against Kaunas but we need the whole team up and running right away, not just Kenny Miller."

Smith was Graeme Souness' assistant when he took the step of signing the club's first high-profile Roman Catholic player, the former Celtic forward Mo Johnston, in 1989, and he was at pains to point out that the dissent expressed now is as nothing to the bile vented then.

"There's not the slightest comparison between the two situations," he insisted. "The reaction [to Miller] at the moment gets exaggerated."

Smith's immediate concern is to ensure that his players clear this hurdle and the next in order to guarantee the Champions League revenue. Failure to do so would leave them lagging behind Celtic in financial as well as footballing terms.

Kaunas should not provide Rangers with too much trouble but Smith concedes that his players have looked jaded in their outings thus far, a fact he attributes to the tiring 68-game campaign which ended only nine weeks ago.

Midfielders Lee McCulloch and Kevin Thomson, who missed out on Saturday's friendly against Raith Rovers, will be available tonight.